- If you can jump up without doubling over in pain, you may not have appendicitis
- There are other easy at-home tests to see if you have a swollen appendix
- READ MORE: I had my appendix removed – but doctors took the wrong organ
A simple test reveals if you have appendicitis, doctors say.
If jumping leaves you doubling over in pain, you should seek medical help.
The appendix is a two to four-inch-long organ connected to the large intestine. If it becomes inflamed, it causes severe pain and must be rapidly surgically removed at the hospital, before it bursts.
Dr Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician from Atlanta, said the premise of the test is that ‘if you jostle that inflamed peritoneum, is there going to be pain?’
It is particularly helpful for seeing if a child might have appendicitis. If they jump and appear in pain, this could be a sign of the condition.
If you can jump without doubling over in pain, the chances are that you don’t have a swollen appendix
Dr Shu told NPR: ‘There are studies on the jump test.
‘They look at what are the chances if you have a positive jump sign that you also have appendicitis, and it’s around 70 percent — so it’s high, but it’s not a perfect test.’
Appendicitis can be caused by various infections such as virus, bacteria or parasites in the digestive tract.
It can also occur when the tube connecting the large intestine and the appendix is blocked by stool. Tumors can also cause appendicitis.
It’s important for appendicitis to be treated swiftly in case the appendix ruptures, which can cause life-threatening illness.
In most cases surgeons will remove the appendix in an appendectomy – scientists aren’t sure why people need an appendix but removing it does not harm people.
The causes of appendicitis aren’t clear but it is thought to be caused by something blocking the entrance to the organ.
Symptoms include pain in the stomach which later travels to your lower right-hand-side and becomes severe.
Pressing on this area, coughing, or walking can all make the pain worse, and other symptoms can be nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea and a fever.
There are other tests you can do to see if appendicitis is likely, Dr Shu said.
‘If you’re lying down and you press on the left-lower quadrant, is there pain in the right-lower quadrant?’ she said.
If so, that’s another sign of potential appendicitis.
A further test: ‘If you press down over the appendix on the right-lower quadrant, is there more pain when you let up? That’s called rebound.’
Rebound pain is an additional sign of a possible issue.
Approximately 8.6 percent of men and 6.7 percent of women in the US are diagnosed with appendicitis over their lifetimes.
More than a quarter of a million cases are reported annually.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk